The Vanishing Jungle: The Story of the World Wildlife Fund Expeditions to Pakistan by Guy Mountfort is a 286-page hardcover published by Houghton Mifflin Company, stated first American edition, 1970, illustrated by Eric Hosking. There is gilt lettering on the spine and the depiction of a lion in gilt on the front cover. The front and back endpapers are illustrated in full color. There is foxing present on the endpapers. Otherwise, the pages are clean and the binding is tight with many illustrations and black and white and color photographs throughout. No dust jacket.
In The Vanishing Jungle Guy Mountfort portrays vividly what has happened to the once abundant wildlife in Pakistan and provides the first authoritative account of its present status. He also gives a lavishly documented example of the kind of work in which the World Wildlife Fund is engaged in its struggle to save endangered animals and their habitats from extermination. Eric Hosking's superb photographs add greatly to the value of the book.
The author analyses the consequences of man's recent influence on nature throughout the varied habitats of Pakistan, from the high western Himalayas to the tropical jungles of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. It is a fascinating if sometimes depressing story. It has, however, a happy ending. Not least of these was the establishment of two important national parks and a number of wildlife reserves.
